Self-service display counter



March 21, 1961 w. L. MORRISON 2,976,099

SELF-SERVICE DISPLAY COUNTER Filed May 29, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N V EN TOR. M40120 4. Mme/s0 March 21, 1961 w. L. MORRISON SELF-SERVICE DISPLAY COUNTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 29, 1957 Y INVENTOR.

I W/uA 0. 4, 1149/59/80 BY P4K$ {44.2mm

United States Patent Office 2,976,099 Patented Mar. 21, 1961 SELF-SERVICE DISPLAY COUNTER Willard Langdon Morrison, Lake Forest, 111., assignor to The Union Stock Yard and Transit Company of Chicago, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed May 29, 1957, Ser. No. 662,533

2 Claims. (Cl. 312267) My invention relates to improvements in display counters and has for one object to provide a display counter wherein the foodstuffs on display for sale may be entirely enclosed, may be protected from contact with the ambient air in the sales room, may be refrigerated and at the same time may be easily withdrawn by the purchaser when desired.

In general, I propose a counter with one or more openable windows or doors arranged along the front of the counter through which the customer can inspect the merchandise on display for sale. Within the counter will be one or more wheel assemblies, each carrying a plurality of trays, held in vertical position, each wheel being continuously rotated so that successive articles are displayed through the window. The interior of the counter will be refrigerated by cold air, preferably in saturated or supersaturated state so that the goods being insulated from the ambient air of the salesroom may be maintained in proper chilled and non-desiccated condition.

When the customer wishes to withdraw goods for purchase, she opens or causes the door or window to open, reaches in, temporarily arrests the movement of a wheel, takes out her purchase, the door shuts and the wheel resumes rotation. This makes available to the customer a relatively large selection of goods presented to her in the best possible condition.

The chamber enclosed by the counter is quite deep. The opening is at the top so when the door or window is opened to withdraw the goods for purchase but little of the cold air is spilled out and the trays of goods as they rotate spend most of their time below the door in the cold air bath and thus are to but a small extent if at all exposed to ambient or warm air.

My invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the counter;

Figure 2 is a section with parts omitted along the line 27. of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse section along the line 33 of Figure 2 with parts omitted through the counter.

Like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the specification and drawings.-

The counter comprises a body having insulated bottom, front and back walls 1, 2, 3. A top 4 contains window or access door mechanism. This top terminates above and behind the front wall 2 to leave a door opening adapted to be closed by the movable transparent door 5 which may be withdrawn into the top 4 by the rack 6 and gear 7.

A shaft 8 extends from end to end along the counter below the door and is adapted to be rotated continuously by a motor 9 through a suitable belt and pulley drive 10. Rotatable on, spaced along and supported by the shaft 8 is one or more ferris wheel-like assemblies, each including wheels 11a, 11b jointed and held against relative rotation by a sleeve =12. Each wheel includes a hub 13 enclosing a spring pressed slipping clutch 14 which causes the wheel assembly to rotate with the shaft, but which will easily slip if the customer wishes to stop the wheel rotation to take a purchase out of the wheel.

Display trays 15 are spaced about the periphery of the wheel assemblies, being keyed to and supported on shafts 16 rotatable in the wheels 11a, 11b. Depending from each shaft 16, held against rotation thereon and just adjacent the outer face of each wheel 11a are cam arms 17 which travel along the slotted cams 18 one for each wheel assembly, the cams being fixed in position so that as the wheels rotate all the trays 15 are positively held in horizontal position to carry goods for display and sale.

By this arrangement, goods on display for sale are )kept in the cold air bath defined by the bottom and side walls of the counter and since the door is at the top and the goods even as they rotate are most of the time far below the door, they are for a minimum time only, even when the door is open, exposed to warm ambient air which may enter through the open door. While the door is closed the goods are continuously presented to and visible through the door. When the door is opened, the customer may, with her hand, stop the rotation of a selected wheel assembly to remove the article she wishes to purchase, but when she lets go of the wheel or the tray, rotation will be instantly resumed.

The cold air bath in which the goods are immersed may be maintained by any suitable means, the details of which form no part of the present invention and are not here illustrated.

The door 5 may be opened and closed by power applied to the gear 7 ,by any suitable means such as shown in my co-pending application Serial No. 662,532, filed May 29, 1957.

In Figure 1 I have shown a single door and Figures 2 and 3 illustrate one of the ferris wheel-like assemblies. There might be a single door corresponding to a single fer-ris wheel assembly. There might be a plurality of doors corresponding to a plurality of ferris wheel assemblies. There might be one door in register with a plurality of wheel assemblies or there might be a plurality of wheel assemblies in register with a single door. In any case, access is available to the storage and display area.

Each door could be opened by the hand of the customer but I prefer to use an automatic door opening means such as shown. in the co-pending application above referred to. The light source is shown at 25', the photoelectrc cell at 26 and. the mirrors 2'7 and 28 reflect the light beam back and forth to maintain the light beam grid in front of the door to be interrupted by the operator when the door is to open.

I claim:

1. A display counter including a housing having an access and inspection opening in the upper forward portion thereof, a transparent door panel mounted in said housing for movement into and out of the access and inspection opening between closed and open positions respectively, means for maintaining refrigerated conditions within said. housing, laterally spaced apart wheels mounted for rotational movement within the housing about a common horizontally disposed axis, a plurality of article supporting, flat display trays extending crosswise between the wheels and pivotally supported at opposite ends on the wheels in circumferentially spaced apart relation for free rocking movement between the wheels, a link for each tray and secured at one end to the tray for rocking movement therewith, a cam track fixed to the housing adjacent one wheel, a follower on the opposite end of each link slidably received in the cam track, said cam track being shaped to maintain the links at a uniform angle for holding the trays in a refrigerated condition and in a supersaturated state.

the atmosphere within the housing is maintained in a 10 2,816,000

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Parent Aug. 2, Clerc July 2, Kimsey Apr. 8, 1952 Haynes May 4, Stingl May 1, Knittel June 18, Scholfield Dec. 10, 

